Behind The Cover: GQ's Style Bible With Kit Harington

GQ creative director Jim Moore speaks to us about Kit Harington, one of three covermen for our third annual style bible, the best vintage t-shirts and exactly how to wear a leather jacket.

The influence here was an assortment of vintage pictures we looked at. First of all, we were really smitten with this motorcycle jacket from Hedi Slimane for Saint Laurent, it really just epitomized a motorcycle jacket in its purest form. You can’t tell if it’s vintage or if it’s new. It’s got a little bit of a worn in look to it. It’s extremely well-fitted—high arm holes, slim arms. It instantly gives you Brando credibility. Marlon Brando was definitely one of our inspirations [from his role in] Wild Ones.

So he’s something very similar to that. Actually, Brando was in a motorcycle jacket with a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. So this was closely mapped to that. Again, we’re going back to that, to the Saint Laurent jacket. When Jim Nelson and I were in Paris, we were admiring André Saraiva’s leather jacket and we were kind of placing bets, we were like ’is that vintage, or is that Saint Laurent? Is that right off the runway, or has he had that for twenty years?’

We couldn’t quite figure it out. I actually thought vintage, Jim called it for Saint Laurent, and it was Saint Laurent. So I think the case and point here is that Hedi really nailed it. It doesn’t scream runway, but it has enough bells and whistles to cause a bit of chatter.

If you look at the full look, everything kind of has a well-worn quality to it. A vintage belt and then these incredible Dior black washed skinny jeans that look great on everybody. I think Dior jeans are really spectacular and make everybody look ten pounds lighter. I didn’t want the look to feel like he walked out of a costume house, we needed some modernity to it. So the boot is the thing that keeps you from looking like motorcycle man. You know, too costumey.

And then for the inside we were really influenced by this company The Innercity Raiders, which does t-shirts based on motorcycle culture and badassism. She’s a Brooklyn gal in LA and all she does is silk screened t-shirts. One is better than the next and they have a great motorcycle feeling, without being cheap and cheesy. They have the perfect patina to them. The shirts feel very soft and worn in and are cut very slim.

On the second spread we’ve got a striped cardigan with a tank top and a pair of jeans. It’s a little bit of a hybrid—you’ve got the bad boyishness with the skinny jeans and the suede boots, but you also have a little bit of Nirvana here with the striped cardigan. I’m kind of feeling cardigans again, not that they ever went away. But now, instead of buttoning them up and putting them with a shirt and tie, we’re really liking the unbuttoned look. Just letting it slouch a little bit and walking a little bit away from the preppier, nerdy-er cardigan. If you have a cardigan in your arsenal, I’m not saying you should get rid of it, but wear a t-shirt under it, treat it a little bit less preciously then you know, wear it to a club.

These suede boots he’s wearing are from Saint Laurent, they are absolutely perfect. They’re the perfect color of tan suede and they’ll only get better with time. Well worth the $745 that you have to shell out for them. Which isn’t bad now that shoe prices are kind of going north of $500, and, you know he’s wearing boots throughout this whole story. What’s interesting is that you don’t normally think of boots as a spring accessory, but I think because they’re suede and have a thinner sole and are more pliable, they just match up with these bad boy looks.

Throughout we’re seeing a little bit more Cobain with the plaid shirt tied around his waist. On the very last picture we have a short sleeve shirt, which is one of our biggest trends this season, it’s rolled-up a little bit more, it shows his guns. It’s a very sexy look. The feeling of the whole thing is just a little bit gritty and urban. We chose to have these cement blocks made, they’re actually just made of plywood and then covered with a cement finish and were actually very light. Sometimes the simplest props can be very effective for a shoot. Paul Ekonoki is a portrait photographer so we wanted stay in the studio, but we wanted to give the backdrop. You’ll see it in the other pictures as well that a little bit of propping can make a big difference.

Do the leather jacket and a tee, do the sport jacket and a tee. Don’t try to put too many bad boy things in one outfit. Which was kind of my point with the cover, if you’re going to do a motorcycle jacket, maybe don’t tie a shirt around your waist and wear motorcycle boots. You don’t want to look like a character. These pieces are going to sing on their own and the surrounding pieces should be simple. But I do love the idea of mixing something vintage in there, that’s why we did the ID bracelet and the vintage belt. It’s the kind of thing that makes it all feel authentic. Less is best. -GQ creative director Jim Moore

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